Controller for electric railways or vehicles.



No. 696,237. Patented Mar. 25, I902.

.1. c. HENRY, Decfd.

S: A. HENRY, Executrix. CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS 0R VEHICLES.

{Application filed Dec. 14, 1899.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSES w 4. Gav-L w: mums Farms co.. PNDYQ-UTNO. WASNINGYON. or c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

eTOI'IN C. HENRY, OF DENVER, COLORADO; SUSIE A. HENRY, EXECUTRIX OF SAID JOHN C. HENRY, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR TO STANLEY ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS OR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 696,237, dated March 25, 1902.

Application filed December 14, 1899. Serial No. 740,282. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. HENRY, a citizen of the United States, residingin Denver, county of Arapahoe, State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways or Vehicles, dad, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in controllers for the manipulation of a pair of IO electric motors. It is of the class known as series multiple, being arranged so that the motor may be connected to the work in series, singly, or in parallel relation and is an improvement on my Patent No. 500,066, of

June 20, 1893.

The improvement consists, mainly, in providing means whereby the motors may be changed gradually from series to parallel relation without flashing at the contacts, me-

chanical shocks to the car or machinery, or abnormal electric or magnetic effects. The changes are effected without interruption of the main circuit by the insertion of wasteful resistance, as is the almost universal practice, In my observation of the operation of electric cars I have noticed that where a pair of motors are connected in series it frequently occurs on starting that one motor will run fast while the other is at a stand, or nearly so.

In such a case it is evident that the potential of the motor running instead of being onehalf of that of the line is near to the full-line potential, while the voltage of the idle motor is about zero instead of being one-half of that 5 from the line. In other words, one motor is doing all of the work, while the other one is idle. I have noticed that this change came about automatically when there was better adhesion between one pair of car-wheels and 0 the track-rail than the other and that it was effected without mechanical shocks to the machinery or car and without flashing at the motor-brushes. In my improved form of controller I take advantage of these observa- 5 tions and duplicate the effects, so as to enable me to remove one motor from the series circuit gradually without interruptionof the main circuit or the insertion in such main circuit of wasteful resistance. I accomplish this by putting a shunt resistance around the field of the motor to be cut out, which will be referred to as No. I, and gradually decreasing it to a complete short circuit. The effect is the motors voltage is smoothly decreased to zero and that of its mate- &1 e., No. 2 doubled without violent fluctuations in the circuit. The armature whose resistance is small is next sliort-circuited, leaving one motor-'i. 6., No. 2-10 propel the car for advantages hereinafter to be referred to. I next reverse and connect the idle field of No. 1 mo tor in parallel with the field of No. 2 motor. This furnishes an additional path for the current. It decreases the single motors resistance and increases the current through it and the speed of the armature. It also excites the fields of the idle armature, so that when its armature (reversed) is connected in the circuit an abnormal rush of current is resisted. Thus the motors maybe connected in parallel without the insertion of dead resistance to prevent mechanical shocks, 8.76. The effects may be better understood by the following explanation: Suppose we have a pair of motors connected in parallel driving a car ata speed of sixteen miles per hour, each using twenty (20) amperes. If we should open the circuit on one of the motors, the car speed would drop, say, twenty-five per cent.z. c., to, say, twelve miles per hourwhile the circuit in the single motor would increase to thirty (30) am peres. Nowif we put as a shunt around the field of motor No. 2 the field-coils of motor No. 1 the single motor would take more current-say forty (40) amperes which would drive the car at the same speed which both motors previously did when combined. Now as the field of motor No. l is in the circuit7l. 0., used as a shunt for motor No. 2it is evident that when its armature is connected there can be no rush of current through motor No. 1. that this act simultaneously reduces the current to motor No. 2 as it increases its back electromotive force, which slows it up, and that armature No. 2, running at the same speed under fields of the same strength, will take no more current, and that combined they run the car at the same speed as the one motor did with shunted fields. Under It is also evident ance between them, and providing a connection, so that a single shunt resistance may'be' used to speed up both of them instead of one for each motor, such as is ordinarily employed. On withdrawing one motor from the circuit the armature is disconnected without flashing, as there can be no'back kick caused by the self-induction from the field to project the are when the field is short-circuited on its mate. Nhen the field is removed, the arc is small, as the .drop in voltage between its terminals is very low as compared with the main pressure.

In the drawings, Figure [represents a development of the improved controller. Figs. 2 to 14, inclusive, represent diagrams of the circuits when the stationary contact-fingers A to M, inclusive, engage the adjustable contacts in the developments, which are numbered from one elusive.

The various combinations shown in the dia- (1) to twenty-three, (23,) ingrams are etfected when the contact-fingers.

engage the adjustable contacts on the position-lines corresponding to the diagrams of the same numbers. To illustrate, suppose the contact-fingers were made to engage with the switch on position-line2. The current would pass from trolley A to contact 1, thence by connection 1 to contact 5, and thence through the resistance-sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 tofield N o. 1, thence from finger I to contacts 17, wire 4, contacts 19, finger J, through armature 1, armature 2, and field 2 to ground, thus completing the circuit, as indicated in the diagram Fig. 2. With the contact-fingerson position-line 3 the course of the current'would be the same as in figure No. 2, except that the resistance-sections 1, 2, and 3 are short-circuited by contact 14' engaging with finger I-I. (Shown in Fig. 3.) With the contact-fingers on the position-line 4 the current follows the same course, except that all of the resistance is short-circuited, as shown in Fig.

4, by contact-finger D engaging contact 4, which connects trolley directly with field N0. 1. In positions 5, 6, and 7 the field of motor No. 1 is gradually short-circuited, as shown in diagrams 5, 6, and 7. In position 5 all of the resistance is included in this shunt, one end of the field making connection through finger I, contacts 17, 15, 12, 9, and 6, to finger E, the other end being connected through finger D to the trolley through contacts 4, 3, 2, and 1., In position 7 the field is shunted entirely from the circuit, as finger Bis connected with contacts 2 and 1 to the trolley-finger A. The current is consequently taken direct to armature No. 1, as shown in diagram 7. This leaves the current passing freely through the lowresistance armature No. 1 without its cutting lines of force. When the fingerIleaves contact 17 and the finger D leaves contact 4, the?.; terminals of field 1 'are disengaged from all;

other connections, as shown in diagrami8;-: In POSl-I leavingNo. 2 motor alone working.

the contact 3, contacts 2-and 3 being con-7.;

nected' bywire 2. When fingerB leaves contact 2, the entering side of No. 1 armature-is removed from the circuit. 7 The current then:-

passes directly through inotorNo'. 2. In'po-- sition 11 the field'ot No. l'motor is reversed.

and placed as a shunt in parallel with the-- fields;.of motor No.2 by finger I connecting with contact 18 and the leaving side of arma-- ture 2 through contact 20 and 21, and the .8

other end of the field connecting through finger L, contacts22 and 23, to the ground at fingerM, as shown in diagram 11.

In posir' tion 12 armature 1 is reversed and connected in parallel with armature No. 2 by contact-7 finger J engaging contact 20. 'In the subsequent positions 13 and 14' the, motors are speeded up by shunting variable resistance-1n parallelwith the fields. In position 13 all of the resistanceis around the field-circuit. The resistance is permanently connected to field No. 1 at one end, while the other end of the resistance is connected through finger E, contacts 7, 10, 13, 16, and 18, to the other end of field No. 1 through fingers I. In position 14 the current takes the same course, except that sections 1, 2, and 3 of the resistance are short-circuited by finger H engaging contact 16, thence by contacts 18 engaging finger 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a series-parallel controller where the fields and armatures are ordinarily connected in series, contacts arranged for disconnecting one of the motors from the circuit and. connecting its field in parallel with the field of the other motor and subsequently'connectin g its armature tothe circuit in parallel with the other armature.

2. In a series-parallel controller contacts arranged for disconnecting one of the motors from the circuit and connecting it in parallel with its mate establishing a cross connection between the armature and fields of the separate motors and a resistance connection between the said cross connection and the field-terminals.

3. In a"series-parallel controller, contacts arranged for disconnecting one of the motors from the circuit and connecting it in parallel with its mate, establishing a cross connection between the armature and fields of the separate motors and a variable-resistance connection between the said cross connection and the field-terminals.

4. A controller for regulating a pair of series electric motors, comprising contacts adapted to first connect the motors in series relation, then to shunt through a resistance and finally IIO through a short circuit, the field-magnet of one of the motors, thereby increasing the voltage of one of the motors by decreasing the voltage of its mate; and contacts adapted to subsequently remove the latter motor, and then connect its field, and afterward its armature in parallel relation with the field and armature of the opposite motor.

5. A controller for regulating a pair of series electric motors, which comprises contacts adapted and arranged to first connect the motors in series relation, then shunt the fieldmagnet of one of the motors through a resistance and finally through a short circuit, thereby gradually increasing the voltage of one of the motors by decreasing the voltage of its mate, and contacts adapted and arranged to subsequently remove the latter motor in sections, and then connect its field and afterward its armature in parallel relation with the field and armature of the opposite motor.

6. A controller for changing a pair of motors from series to parallel, which comprises contacts adapted and arranged to disconnect one of the motors from the circuit, contacts adapted to place the field of the disconnected motor in shunt with the field of the connected motor, thereby speeding up the single motor by weakening its field, and magnetizing the field of the other motor, and contacts for connecting the second armature to the circuit in parallel.

7. A controller for regulating a pair of series electric motors, which comprises contacts adapted and arranged to first connect the motors in series relation, then shunt the field of one motor so as to gradually increase the voltage of one of the motors by decreasing the voltage of its mate, contacts adapted and arranged for subsequently removing the latter motor, and then connecting its field and afterward its armature in parallel relation with the field and armature of the opposite motor.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 11th day of December, A. D. 1899, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN C. HENRY. [L.

\Vitnesses:

ELLA M. HAYES, MARY HAMPTON LLOYD. 

